May 24, 2010

Do you know what a TechCrunch is? No? Well then: it’s a site run by a guy out of San Fransisco for San Fransisco tech geeks, and unless you work for FourSquare or you’re a venture capitalist with a few hundred thousand to peel off, don’t worry too much about it. All you need to know is that TechCrunch is run by a wacky guy named Michael Arrington, who’s very influential among the aforementioned people and also people who get worked up about iPhone apps.

According to microfame expert Rex Sorgatz, he’s San Fransisco’s version of Nick Denton (and also a smoke monster!), who owns Gawker Media, but you probably knew that, because we don’t have the San Fransisco Version of Things in New York: it goes the other way around. ANYWAY.

The most exciting thing to happen at the latest TechCrunch Conference – which gives all the SanFran tech geeks a chance to wile out in the Big City – (called TechCrunch Disrupt) was when Michael Arrington was told to fuckoff by a lady with a far higher paygrade than him, the beautifully foul-mouthed CEO Carol Bartz of Yahoo. Via TechCrunch, the following is rated 3, for THREE SNAPS DOWN, GIRL. Because we don’t know exactly what was said, though we do have a clear picture, we’ve tried to dramatize:

Arrington: Robble robble robble robble robble robble robble robble robble. Yahoo is big and angry and I am a small independent publisher and what have you done since you’ve been there?*

Bartz: “Steve Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 — the iPod came out 4 years later. 3 years after that is the first time his market cap grew. It took 7 years. I’ve been here a few months. Give me a break. You are involved in a very tiny company.”

Arrington: Very tiny.

Bartz: It probably takes you a long time just to convince yourself what to do. “So fuck off!”

There you have it. CEO tells media/ideas person with small business to fuckoff. Definitely lent some charm to my day. You can read more about the confrontation – or interview, which is actually quite a fun read – over at TechCrunch. Good luck San Franciscans. Don’t believe everything you hear in the Jay-Z songs, or anything you read in the Post.